After hard rides yesterday, Dick and I decided to sleep in and go out for breakfast. Hobee’s has awesome omelets and it’s only about a mile away, so we hopped on our errand bikes and pedaled over.
The downside: a pathetic bike rack. Not only is it an old school wheel bender, it’s not bolted down, it’s crammed in the corner of the walkway, and it’s literally falling apart. When we arrived, there was one bike parked next to it, but not even attached. The rider simply locked its rear wheel to the frame. With my rear rack I couldn’t get my wheel into the slot, so Dick and I parked against one side.
When we returned, another bike was parked at the rack, which failed him too. I’m guessing that the fact that the wide MTB tires didn’t fit in the slots led him to park it this way.
But I can’t explain why he locked his front wheel rather than his frame to the rack.
It’s really sad that this strip mall doesn’t appreciate its customers who arrive by bike enough to provide proper bike parking. In addition to these four bikes, there were two more bikes locked together to a street sign. That’s at least four car parking spots that we didn’t use, and given the minute size of their lot, a real value to the business owner.
To add irony to it all, the lot was full of oversized SUVs, like the Suburban you see in the background, which was running with no one inside when we left. I have no idea what that was about. But I do know that the people waiting for a table outside would rather not be breathing its exhaust.
Have you ever asked a business to upgrade or install a bike rack?
Elly Phillips
August 11, 2011 at 9:25 pm
I haven’t, but maybe should. I show up with my bike + a trailer for Ciaran, these days, and it is really annoying where there’s nowhere good to ‘park’. I was really impressed with one of the art and wines in MV a few years ago when they had valet bike parking.
ladyfleur
August 11, 2011 at 9:54 pm
A few weeks ago when we went to Hobbee’s I politely asked for the manager. I told her that we arrived on bikes and that we were disappointed that the rack wasn’t usable (it was in an even worse location). With a discernible look of disgust, she said that they had requested a fix from the property owner. I think Hobbee’s gets it, just not the owner. As for the bike valet parking at festivals, you can thank the Silicon Valley Bike Coalition. They do an awesome job.
humofthecity
September 7, 2012 at 9:49 am
Yes. I have asked at a satellite campus at work (which has only one functioning rack and a dozen non-functioning ones) and at the local Trader Joe’s (which has good racks but not enough of them; they’re packed). So far no luck on either front. This morning I watched a woman ride up at work, see the full racks, and give up and walk her bike into the building in the hopes of finding a place indoors to put it. I think I will escalate to calling people at work. It’s so frustrating!
ladyfleur
September 7, 2012 at 10:05 am
It is frustrating. It took a full year for this one to get replaced.
There’s a German meat shop that reopened in a new location after a fire. No racks, just these lame concrete wheel holder things that were blocked by the knife sharpening crew the day I went. So I asked nicely if they had considered a bike rack and the owner got that “sheesh, I just finished getting the shop reopened, now one more thing for me to worry about.”